2022 Calendar

Maro2Bear

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I belong to a kayaking club that also produces a calendar. The “leader” asks for photos to be submitted for the contest and has about three other trusted souls who are usually pretty good photographers to be the judges. The four pick the best photos & Mr Leader gets a calendar printed up. No mass voting, just the panel who selects “the top 12”. This helps ensure a balanced number of photos, scenery, action, goofy. (In our case, not all Boxies or Sulcatas, or Redfoot or DBTs).
 

jaizei

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I'm beginning to recall the many issues that happened trying to get the last calendar made...

I think there were two distinct "problems."

1. The contest itself with getting members to submit 1 photo that meets the criteria, and then having the vote go smoothly. The last few years it seemed as though some member(s) fixated on the contest a bit much - counting/tracking votes maybe to the point of obsession, "campaigning" for votes, etc.

2. Producing the physical calendar. I believe Josh mentioned the print on demand (cafepress, etc) option at some point in the past but the margins were tighter. The option he used was the most cost effective but it required getting the calendars printed and then shipped separately which took more effort on the part of whoever did that (Josh or Yvonne)


This is why I asked before which part was missed, the contest or actually getting the physical calendar. because 1 can be overcome/handled by moderators while 2 is something that needs be handled by admins since it involves money and personal information.
 

Ink

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Maybe instead of a calendar printed. IF possible put up a monthly picture post on the forum? Then people can vote on the forum for a picture of the month instead of a calendar..just an idea.
 

jaizei

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Maybe instead of a calendar printed. IF possible put up a monthly picture post on the forum? Then people can vote on the forum for a picture of the month instead of a calendar..just an idea.

This is something we've done before, and restarting it may be a good test run for other things
 

COmtnLady

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Maybe instead of a calendar printed. IF possible put up a monthly picture post on the forum? Then people can vote on the forum for a picture of the month instead of a calendar..just an idea.
Someone who's most interested (say for example, a volunteer who's idea it was to get a calendar together) could shuffle through the assorted pics everyone posts anyhow, pick one (no contest), post it and the calendar part on a page of the forum, then all us suckers, er, good members, could download it for the month, in return for a small donation. That would bypass all the production stuff and headaches, and only make one person crazy.

"We" could theme in on indoor enclosures, outdoor enclosures, teeny-tinys, huge torts, a year of one breed per month, safe plants with a tort near it, just all sorts of tortoise-y things.

Glad its not me, but I'd buy a page or twelve.
 

Maryalice

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Yeah.
The qualifying photos then need to be judged, etc.
What we COULD DO however, is make a real plan for a 2023 calendar.
And maybe, hopefully it could be a yearly event after that?
I've started a new thread to see if it's even feasible.

Thread 'How many members want a CALENDAR?' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-many-members-want-a-calendar.194789/
I didn’t realize it would be a contest. Many of us are relatively new and were not present in those days when you did the photo contest and calendar. For the proposed 2023 calendar, may I suggest the following:

Instead of a photo contest, we can turn this 2023 calendar event into a simple collection of photos of our shell babies. For the event to pay for itself, the organisers can sell “spots” in the calendar. For example, we can charge $100 for each page for one month. If 2 tort parents want their shell babies to be featured on the same month, then they split the cost and pay $50 each for their torts to be featured in half of the photo page for that month. We can vary the cost depending on the month, and the number of people who would be buying spots for the month (i.e., if a month has 4 interested tort parents, then the cost will be split among them - and they should be made aware that the photo of their shelled baby will only be 1/4 of the photo page for that particular month. If someone would want a full blown solo photo of their tort for a particular month, s/he should pay the cost of that whole page. Other than the spot for a particular month, the amount to be paid by the shell parent will also entitle him/her to 1 printed copy of the calendar.

To know who and how many will be interested, we can ask members to send their choice of month, and preferred spot (whole, half, a quarter page), and set a deadline. After the deadline, the organizers can then tally the number of people interested in having their shelled babies included in the calendar, and then estimate the cost of printing a certain number of calendars. Changes, negotiations may be done when so many members chose the same month. It would also be possible to estimate how much you can charge for the spots after knowing how many members would want to buy a spot for their tort babies’ photos. Total production cost of the calendars should cover not just the printing but also the lay-out artist. (We want a professionally done collection of photos.) Payments should be made before actual lay-out and printing could be done.

Just my suggestion for the members to consider…
 

COmtnLady

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I didn’t realize it would be a contest. Many of us are relatively new and were not present in those days when you did the photo contest and calendar. For the proposed 2023 calendar, may I suggest the following:

Instead of a photo contest, we can turn this 2023 calendar event into a simple collection of photos of our shell babies. For the event to pay for itself, the organisers can sell “spots” in the calendar. For example, we can charge $100 for each page for one month. If 2 tort parents want their shell babies to be featured on the same month, then they split the cost and pay $50 each for their torts to be featured in half of the photo page for that month. We can vary the cost depending on the month, and the number of people who would be buying spots for the month (i.e., if a month has 4 interested tort parents, then the cost will be split among them - and they should be made aware that the photo of their shelled baby will only be 1/4 of the photo page for that particular month. If someone would want a full blown solo photo of their tort for a particular month, s/he should pay the cost of that whole page. Other than the spot for a particular month, the amount to be paid by the shell parent will also entitle him/her to 1 printed copy of the calendar.

To know who and how many will be interested, we can ask members to send their choice of month, and preferred spot (whole, half, a quarter page), and set a deadline. After the deadline, the organizers can then tally the number of people interested in having their shelled babies included in the calendar, and then estimate the cost of printing a certain number of calendars. Changes, negotiations may be done when so many members chose the same month. It would also be possible to estimate how much you can charge for the spots after knowing how many members would want to buy a spot for their tort babies’ photos. Total production cost of the calendars should cover not just the printing but also the lay-out artist. (We want a professionally done collection of photos.) Payments should be made before actual lay-out and printing could be done.

Just my suggestion for the members to consider…
Too rich for my blood.
 

Maro2Bear

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Someone who's most interested (say for example, a volunteer who's idea it was to get a calendar together) could shuffle through the assorted pics everyone posts anyhow, pick one (no contest), post it and the calendar part on a page of the forum, then all us suckers, er, good members, could download it for the month, in return for a small donation. That would bypass all the production stuff and headaches, and only make one person crazy.

"We" could theme in on indoor enclosures, outdoor enclosures, teeny-tinys, huge torts, a year of one breed per month, safe plants with a tort near it, just all sorts of tortoise-y things.

Glad its not me, but I'd buy a page or twelve.

Maybe get @Josh into the picture ? and have Pic of the Month be part of the scrolling TFO headline banner. Pictures already appear there when uploaded to the Media tab, so a Pix of the Month should be easy to add.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Maybe get @Josh into the picture ? and have Pic of the Month be part of the scrolling TFO headline banner. Pictures already appear there when uploaded to the Media tab, so a Pix of the Month should be easy to add.
Last time, most of it got dumped in Josh's lap
 

TaylorTortoise

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I have been in contacf with josh about it… another thing I was thinking about.. how about shirts/ hoodies to support forum/ members? If someone got t shirts made or hoodies in remembrance of this amazing place and to share it with others?
 

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